The Oldie Literary Lunches have become a venerable institution on the London literary scene since they were first launched in 1996. Held monthly at Simpson's-in-the-Strand, the lunches feature three speakers who each address the audience for ten minutes. A delicious three-course lunch with wine accompanies the talks.

Literary Lunch Hotline 01795 592 892
Tickets cost £62

JUNE 11th

 RUPERT EVERETT

 Vanished Years
Rupert Everett will talk about his autobiography, Vanished Years. Hollywood and celebrity friends (and enemies) jostle for attention with Everett’s traditional roots (his father’s life in the army and the City, the English countryside, Catholicism) in this memoir. ‘What really sets this book apart is not so much its brutal energy as its unexpected subtlety’ (Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Daily Telegraph).

WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

Return of a King
Prize-winning historian William Dalrymple joins us to talk about his definitive analysis of the first Afghan War, a powerful parable of colonial ambition.  

PHYLLIDA LAW

 How Many Camels Are There in Holland?: Dementia, Ma and Me
Phyllida Law joins us to talk about her book How Many Camels Are There in Holland.The book tells the story of the actress turned writer’s return to the tiny Scottish Village of Aredentinny to care for her increasingly muddled Ma, Mego, after the onset of dementia.

 The book is the successor to the hugely successful ‘Notes to my Mother-in-Law’.

JULY 9TH

ROY HATTERSLEY

 The Devonshires
Lord Hattersley’s new book tells the story of the Cavendish family, a tale that spans 525 years and works its way through the first eight Dukes of Devonshire. With his unique access to the archives at Chatsworth, Hattersley covers the bringing down of a Tory government, explores the network of servants who supported the household and looks at the family’s staggering wealth.

JOHN LLOYD

 1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off
The producer of Spitting Image, Blackadder and Not the Nine O’Clock News will join us to talk about the birth of his popular comedy quiz QI and his new book, 1,227 Facts to Blow Your Socks Off. He may well even stun us with never-before-heard facts...
 

PAUL HEINEY

Farm Fatale
In the 1990s Paul Heiney ditched his broadcasting career and with three carthorses, no tractors and no pesticides, he set to work on 40 acres of Suffolk farmland.Farm Fatale is his account of that decision and its aftermath.

AUGUST 6TH

ANN WIDDECOMBE

Strictly Ann
Conservative MP, Strictly Come Dancing contestant, author and anti-hunting figure. Ann Widdecombe is a divisive figure; heralded by some as a living national treasure and criticised by others for her deeply held views on abortion and gay marriage. Her memoir, Strictly Ann covers it all. Beginning with her early life in Singapore and delving into her political career, the book also explains the roots of her conversion to Catholicism in 1993, her thoughts on MPs’ expenses and the state of the nation.

SEPTEMBER 3RD

Rusbridger, Editor in Chief of the Guardian and a keen amateur pianist, will be discussing his new book Play It Again: An Amateur Against the Impossible. In the summer of 2010 Rusbridger made his annual escape to a 'piano camp' and set himself an almost impossible task: to learn, in the space of a year, Chopin's Ballade No.1. The next twelve months were to witness the Arab Spring, the Japanese tsunami and the English riots, and were bookended by two remarkable news stories: WikiLeaks and the News of the World hacking scandal. Such was the background against which he tried to carve out twenty minutes' practice a day, find the right teacher, the right piano, the right fingering – even if that meant practising in a Libyan hotel in the middle of a revolution!

OCTOBER 1ST

 MICHAEL PALIN

BRAZIL

 LUCY LETHBRIDGE

SERVANTS

Lucy Lethbridge writes for a number of publications and is also the author of several children's books, one of which, Who Was Ada Lovelace?, won the 2002 Blue Peter Award for non-fiction. Lucy will be discussing her new book Servants: A Downstairs View of Twentieth-century Britain, a social history of the last century through the eyes of those who served. The voices of servants and domestic staff, largely ignored by history, are at last brought to life: their daily household routines, attitudes towards their employers, and to each other, throw into sharp and intimate relief the period of feverish social change through which they lived.